Nintendo officially cuts Wii's price to $200

It's official folks, Nintendo has dropped the Wii's price by $50 to $200. The announcement concludes weeks of rumors and advertisement leaks. Nintendo's decision will better position the company against competitors like Sony and Microsoft, who have recently lowered the prices of their consoles.

Sony launched the PlayStation 3 Slim at $300, and Microsoft lowered the Xbox 360 Elite's price by $100 to match that price. After Redmond made its move, a Nintendo spokesman was approached and said the company had no intentions of following suit. That didn't stop the rumors, of course, as unofficial reports of a planned Wii price reduction flooded the Web.

With Nintendo aboard the bandwagon, will sales explode as witnessed during the PS3 Slim's release? PlayStation 3 shipments rose by 104% during its launch week -- sure, some of those sales were laggards waiting for a deal, but there is no doubt Sony legitimately bagged many new customers.